I will be signing books at the Holiday Author Fair at the Indiana Historical Society this Saturday from noon to 4pm. Come and buy some books – they make great gifts!
Creative Minds are Rarely Tidy
I love this saying I found at a local store. It validates for me what I’ve known for years. Creative people need fodder to feed their creativity and that often means a bit of organized chaos. I have always been a pile filer. I like to have everything I’m working on out in the open. I also love office supplies – pens, pencils, spiral note books, colorful folders – you get the idea. So I’ve tried to solve my chaos problem by putting my stuff into jars and baskets and stand-up file organizers.
I love these sparkly spiral notebooks.
I’m also a huge note taker. I think it is a form of journaling, really. I make lists and jot down ideas and take copious notes at presentations. The act of writing helps me transfer and process information.
More spiral notebooks! Obviously I am not afraid of color!!
I used to write on slips of paper or legal pads, but then I came up with the brilliant idea to use notebooks! I have different ones for my writing in progress and my job and personal life. I also like pens and pencils, pretty paper and colorful containers!
More containers and my idea board. Lots of fuel for the imagination!!
Kentucky Book Fair – Love being with authors and readers!
Saturday I was at the Kentucky Book Fair in Frankfort, KY! Met lots of new author friends and lots of readers! I even had some metaphysical conversations about the premise of The Field!
I shared my table with Megan Whitmer, author of BETWEEN and Julia Watts, author of HYPNOTIZING CHICKENS – that title got a lot of attention!
Here are some great t-shirts I saw – gotta love authors and readers!!
Careful, or you’ll end up in my novel. 🙂
Banned Books?! Open a book and Open your mind!
Lots of great books on this banned book list!
Books By The Banks ~ Cincinnati, Ohio
Great day on Saturday at the Books By The Banks Book Festival in Cincinnati, Ohio!
Met with lots of readers and shared a table with Mindee Arnett, author of Avalon and The Nightmare Affair (a YALSA Teen Top Ten nominee.)
Of course, I also bought books… here I am with Marc Brown, author of the Arthur Series and TV show that my children grew up watching.
I’m buying books for my niece and nephew, the next generation of readers. So much fun!!
What I’m Reading
I usually have several books going at a time. One on audiobook, one on iBooks and one or two good, old-fashioned paper or hardcover books. Here’s what I’m reading at the moment.
Euphoria by Lily King
The Fiery Cross (Oulander Series) by Diana Gabaldon – I’m also watching the series on Starz. These books are over 1000 pages long, so they are taking up a lot of my reading time.
The Last Runaway by Tracy Chevalier
Ruin and Rising (The Grisha Trilogy) by Leigh Bardugo – YA
The Smartest Kids in the World : And How They Got That Way by Amanda Ripley
Recently Finished
Just One Night by Gayle Forman – YA – This is a novella wrapping up the Just One Day and Just One Year series.
The Husband’s Secret by Liane Moriarty
Outlander, Dragonfly in Amber, Voyager and Drums of Autumn by Diana Gabaldon (I am VERY hooked on this series, obviously. Did I say that these books are VERY long?)
The Edge of Nowhere and The Edge of Water by Elizabeth George – YA
Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Saenz – YA
Off to the Book Fairs this Fall!
I’ve been invited to two Book Fairs this Fall. Books by the Banks in Cincinnati on October 11th and the Kentucky Book Fair in Frankfort, KY on November 15th! I’m really looking forward to connecting with readers and other authors. The danger is always that I may come home with more books than I sell!
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A few projects…
I finished a few things this summer…
A special pillow for my special niece, Olivia. This is made from recycled sweaters and over-dyed suiting material with a little embroidery, rick-rack and applique.
Knitted dish towels. All from 100% cotton. These are fast and easy projects.
And for me, a purple cotton cardigan. 🙂 I love knitting because I can take it with my on all of my travels and I always have something creative to do.
Research Road Trip – Archaeology Field Study
I love research!
I’ve started working on my next book featuring Eric and Renee and some new characters. Part of the setting is an archaeolgical dig site in southern Indiana. I wanted to get some hands on experience with an actual dig, so last weekend I embarked on a research roadtrip! I had the most incredible weekend driving across picturesque southernIndiana and Illinois!
Dr. Susan Alt of Indiana University generously allowed me to spend a morning observing a Field Study student dig site at Emerald Mounds – a Mississippian Era Native American site about 20 miles east of St. Louis. Students from the University of Illinois and Indiana University are spending six to eight weeks excavating a site that is at risk of being lost due to farming and erosion. I am a science geek at heart and it was incredibly cool to get to watch them at work!!
I also visited Angel Mounds near Evansville, IN and Cahokia Mounds in Illinois just east of St. Louis. All three sites are settlements of Native Americans who lived there until about the year 1400. The Cahokia site had more inhabitants during its heyday than London did at the same time.
Here is the Field Study team who allowed me to peek over their shoulders as they worked.
Working on the site.
Fragrant milkweed.
Learning excavation techniques.
The site is in a very beautiful farmland/pastoral setting on a bluff overlooking St. Louis in the distance.
Up in the Air!
My Dad turned 80 this year and to celebrate he and I took a hot air ballon ride! It was very cool, to say the least. Cross that off the bucket list!
The weather conditions were perfect!
We landed near a cemetary and the headstone nearest to us had hot air balloons on it! I love it when the Universe speaks to me that way!
Too bad I had to get up at 5:00am! Such a lovely ride!
Decatur Middle School!
A few weeks ago I gave a presentation at Decatur Middle School and this lovely young reader bought a copy of THE FIELD. The cool thing is that I recognized her from when I presented at Decatur three years ago and she bought a copy of INDIAN SUMMER. I l love it when that happens!
